Board 93

Board 93
Both sides vulnerable

♠ 6 2 ♥ Q J 10 5 ♦ Q J 9 8 6 ♣ J 6

Partner passes, and RHO opens one club. I pass. LHO bids one diamond, and RHO bids two spades. So it's the opponents' turn to deal with a jump shift auction. LHO bids three clubs, and RHO bids three notrump. Everyone passes. Against six notrump, I would think about leading a diamond to kill dummy's diamond entry for squeeze purposes. But against three notrump, it looks right to go after heart tricks. I lead the queen of hearts.

	NORTH ♠ 8 5 ♥ 9 8 4 2 ♦ A K 7 4 ♣ Q 10 2
WEST ♠ 6 2 ♥ Q J 10 5 ♦ Q J 9 8 6 ♣ J 6

West	North	East	South
		Pass	1 ♣
Pass	1 ♦	Pass	2 ♠
Pass	3 ♣	Pass	3 NT
(All pass)

Declarer plays low from dummy, partner plays the six, and declarer wins with the ace. Either partner has the king or he has played low from seven-six doubleton. Declarer leads the three of clubs to the queen, and partner plays the nine. He plays a low club back to his ace, and partner plays the eight. So declarer is four-six in the black suits. He can't have a diamond void, or he would have cashed the ace and king of diamonds while he was in dummy. (He didn't know the ten of clubs would set up for an entry.) And he can't have a singleton ace of hearts, since partner would have played the seven of hearts at trick one with king-seven-six-three. Declarer must be 4-2-1-6 with ace-seven of hearts.

He needs at least ace-king or ace-queen-jack of spades for his two-spade bid. With the latter, he might have taken a spade finesse when he was in dummy with the queen of clubs, since, if he didn't, he might lose the opportunity to repeat the finesse. But we do have the heart suit ready to cash, so that's not a sure thing.

Declarer plays a club to the ten. I pitch the six of diamonds, and partner pitches the three of spades. Declarer plays the five of spades, partner plays the four, and declarer plays the ace. I assume he has the ace-king. He might or might not have the queen or the jack. I play the deuce, since I want to represent a doubleton honor. If I play the six and he works out that spades were five-two, he may decide I was giving count with six-deuce doubleton.  If I play the deuce, it strengthens the illusion that my remaining card is the queen (or jack).

Declarer starts running clubs. I need to find three discards. I can easily afford one heart and one diamond. I'll postpone deciding on my third discard for now, though I intend to retain the spade six if possible. I start with the five of hearts. Partner and dummy pitch low diamonds. Then the nine of diamonds. Dummy pitches a heart; partner, another diamond.

Declarer cashes his last club. We're down to this position:

	NORTH ♠ 8 ♥ 9 8 ♦ A K 7 ♣ --
WEST ♠ 6 ♥ J 10 ♦ Q J 9 ♣ --		EAST ♠ ? ? ? ♥ K 3 ♦ x ♣ --
	SOUTH ♠ K ? ? ♥ 7 ♦ x ♣ 3

I can't afford a diamond pitch. Can I afford a heart? I can as long as partner hold two hearts. He must also hold three spades (unless he holds both the queen and the jack), so he will have to pitch his last diamond on this trick. Once declarer plays a diamond to the ace, however, dummy will be out of entries, and partner can afford to pitch a heart. He can pitch his last heart on the king of diamonds, and, if declarer has king-jack-small or king-queen-ten remaining, we will have contrived to present declarer with a losing option.

I pitch the jack of hearts. North pitches the heart eight. After dummy's heart pitch, partner could pitch a heart if he chose to, but he pitches his last diamond anyway. Declarer plays a diamond to dummy as partner pitches a heart. When he cashes the next diamond, partner plays the ten of spades. He couldn't afford that unless he has queen-jack left, so it seems my care in the end position was for naught. Declarer can take only his king of spades. Making five.

	NORTH ♠ 8 5 ♥ 9 8 4 2 ♦ A K 7 4 ♣ Q 10 2
WEST ♠ 6 2 ♥ Q J 10 5 ♦ Q J 9 8 6 ♣ J 6		EAST ♠ Q J 10 4 3 ♥ K 6 3 ♦ 10 5 3 ♣ 9 8
	SOUTH ♠ A K 9 7 ♥ A 7 ♦ 2 ♣ A K 7 5 4 3

This deal is remarkably similar to the previous deal. Even though North has only nine high-card points to my eleven, however, his hand, in context, is at least as good as mine was and possibly better. The club queen is a considerably better asset than my queen-jack of diamonds. My hand did offer a potential source of tricks, which his does not. But it's not clear how important that is on this auction. I think, with four potential cover cards and three controls, he is worth a move over three notrump. I would have bid four diamonds, over which South would surely have driven to slam.

My teammates produce the identical auction, but our counterparts defend strangely. West is unwilling to part with any hearts. He pitches a spade and three diamonds on the run of the clubs, as does East. My teammate scores a trick with dummy's seven of diamonds, picking up an IMP.

I just noticed that neither East split on the lead of the spade from dummy. Declarer at either table could have inserted the seven and won the trick. I don't blame them for not doing so. But I am a little surprised Jack didn't split, since he defends as if declarer were double dummy.

Me: -660
Jack: -690

Score on Board 93: +1 IMP
Total: -90 IMPs